Illinois is riding a 19-game losing streak in Big Ten play headed into today’s game with Ohio State, but it’s not because the Illini are benign on offense.

For proof, consider this play — let’s call it “Shotgun, five-wide, bunch left — which the Illini turned into a 60-yard touchdown in their last game, against Indiana. It shows the Illinois offense will resort to a little chicanery every so often.

Whether the Ohio State defense will have to figure this one out quickly a time or two today in Champaign remains to be seen, but it might just because of the potential for the Illini.

Before the snap, quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase drops into an empty shotgun with five receivers split wide. He sends three to the left where they group into the bunch, or wishbone-looking formation, while two go to the right.

At the snap, the receivers run routes that would keep an Etch A Sketch expert busy, but it’s the three on the left that are most intriguing. They criss-cross in what amounts to a floral bouquet pattern, with the middle man shooting straight ahead, the right-side man curving off left and the left side man coming right and underneath it all.

Against Indiana, Scheelhaase looked right to begin with, then came back left with his read and found Steve Hull coming across the middle out of the bunch bouquet. He hit Hull in stride with a short flip that the receiver turned into a touchdown, one of his nine catches for 224 yards and two TDs that day.

Throwing receivers off stride with a jam or two while also gaining immediate pressure on Scheelhaase would be the best ways for Ohio State to combat this play.